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Rotax 915 iS: Incremental Power Boost

Aft of the firewall, a new Cirrus SR22 is the epitome of the technologically advanced aircraft. But the front end of the thing is pretty much frozen in the mid-20th century: old-school mechanical fuel injection, World War II magnetos, manual mixture control. This is so because buyers have wanted it this way; a Star Trek flight deck propelled by a 59 Buick engine room.

Paul Bertorelli
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Aft of the firewall, a new Cirrus SR22 is the epitome of the technologically advanced aircraft. But the front end of the thing is pretty much frozen in the mid-20th century: old-school mechanical fuel injection, World War II magnetos, manual mixture control. This is so because buyers have wanted it this way; a Star Trek flight deck propelled by a ‘59 Buick engine room.

Pushing against this reality is Rotax, a company whose main menu is populated by sophisticated recreational engines with a sideline in airplane motors. From this unique mix comes the latest Rotax foray into bleeding-edge engine technology: the Rotax 915 iS. As we go to press this month, the engine is in the final stages of being wrung out in several airframes, including a Searey amphibian we flew in Florida.

Paul Bertorelli

Paul Bertorelli is Aviation Consumer’s Editor at Large. In addition to his valued contributions to Aviation Consumer, his in-depth video productions on sister publication AVweb cover a wide variety of topics that greatly contribute to safety, operation and aircraft ownership. When Paul isn’t writing or filming, he’s out flying his J3 Cub.